“Give them time,” Mika said fondly. “They’re only just learning not to be afraid of their power. Of course, they might never feel the same way I do. Witches don’t always fall in love with magic. Like anybody else, we each have our own relationships with our identities and our power.”

“What about the rest of the Very Secret Society of Witches?”

“I don’t know any of the others very well, but based on what they’ve said over the years, it sounds like we’ve all chosen to live our lives in very different ways. One of us just got divorced, and another is about to get married, and another has been happily married for thirty years or so. I know a witch who works as a barrister, and one who has her own patisserie, and another who teaches at a primary school.” Mika winced, as if struck by an unhappy notion: “Honestly, Primrose is the one I’m probably most like.”

Jamie gave her an incredulous look, trying to match warm, merry Mika with the gorgon he assumed Primrose was. “Why?”

“In all the time I’ve known her, she’s been alone,” Mika said. “Like me. And she likes to say it’s because of the Rules and the Sacrifices We Must Make for the Good of All, but I know it’s more than that. Zuzanna, the witch who has been married for thirty years, says that she almost never does any spellwork at home because her husband doesn’t know the truth about her. She doesn’t seem to mind at all. Or take Sophie, the teacher. She lives alone, but she hardly ever uses her power and she says it’s because she’s just not that interested in it. But Primrose and me, we’re not like that. We need magic the way we need to breathe.”

“I get it,” Jamie said. “That’s kind of how I feel about books. When Lillian said she needed someone to run the library, I jumped at it.”

“I bet. I’m glad you get to work with the thing you love.”

There was a wistful note in her voice. It tugged at his heartstrings, but all he did was nod.

“I think that’s why I’ve never settled down to any one kind of work,” Mika mused. “Why I’ve cleaned houses and waited tables and served drinks behind bars. It’s not just because they’re temporary jobs I can find and leave easily. It’s because magic is the only work I’ve ever been passionate about.”

“And what would you do if you could?” Jamie asked. “If being a witch were a job, what would it look like?”

Mika gave him a doubtful look. “Do you actually want to know?”

“I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t, Mika. I’m not nice, remember?”